Elena Baltacha

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Feisty tennis player loved for her warm nature and inspirational spirit who overcame serious illness to become the British women’s No 1

In an era when women’s tennis is dominated by 6ft-plus amazonians who can pummel the ball to all corners of the court, Elena Baltacha emerged as an unlikely heroine of British women’s tennis, which has been starved of a Grand Slam champion since Virginia Wade in 1977. Baltacha, who was only 5ft 8in tall, had to contend with a serious liver condition as well as a succession of debilitating injuries during her 12-year professional career. She kept bouncing back, however. This fighting spirit, manifested in a fist-pumping, thigh-slapping feistiness on court, could annoy her opponents but it endeared her to